SPIRIT 2.0 Lesson:
Converging Earthquake!
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Note: Modified from Striking Earthquake! (I and U are the same)
Lesson Title: Converging Earthquake!
Draft Date: June 28, 2009
1st Author (Writer): Shantelle Suiter
Instructional Component Used: Thrust Faults, Convergent Plate Boundaries
Grade Level: Middle School
Cartoon Illustration Idea: CEENBots manipulating a “fault line”
Content (what is taught):
 How two tectonic plates coming together create plate boundaries
 Convergent boundaries shift one plate down under the other
 Thrust fault lines are a vertical shift in the top plate
Context (how it is taught):
 Using the CEENBot to recreate the Himalayan Mountains
 Using the worksheets to visually show how the fault reacts
 Using worksheets to show tectonic plates and boundaries
Activity Description:
Create convergent boundaries that are:
1. Continental-continental convergence
2. Oceanic-oceanic convergence
3. Oceanic-continental convergence
Standards:
Science – B1, B2, D1, F3
Technology – A3, B2
Engineering
Math – C2
Materials List:
CEENBot
Two brown blankets (size of a receiving blanket)
Two blue blankets (size of a receiving blanket)
Two boards about 2” x 2” x 12”
© 2009 Board of Regents University of Nebraska
Asking Questions: Converging Earthquake!
Summary: Identify parts and forces of convergent boundaries and strike thrust faults.
Outline:
 Discover the background knowledge students have of earthquakes
 Discover the background experiences students may have had with earthquakes
 Challenge the students to support their opinion of the benefits of earthquakes
Activity: Ask students the questions getting conversation, if not a debate, about the difficulties
and benefits of earthquakes.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Questions
Who has been in an earthquake?
What causes earthquakes?
What difficulties do earthquakes cause?
Are there benefits to earthquakes?
Answers
Vary according to experiences of students.
Energy released from the ground.
Destroys buildings, roads, and bridges.
Creates new land and mountains.
Online Resources: Images of fault lines in the Himalaya Mountains and Nazca Mountains can
be found at http://images.google.com/
A wealth of earthquake information as well as images can be found at
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html#anchor5798673
© 2009 Board of Regents University of Nebraska
Exploring Concepts Converging Earthquake!
Summary: Identify parts and forces of convergent boundaries and strike thrust faults.
Outline:
 Two CEENBots push a landscape together in thrust fault fashion
Activity: Facing the bots towards each other with two brown blankets between them, drive the
bots together allowing the blankets to crumple up. This is land to land convergence.
Do the same with one brown and one blue and this represents ocean to land convergence
(hopefully the brown folds over onto the blue). Do this again with the two blue blankets to show
ocean to ocean convergence.
© 2009 Board of Regents University of Nebraska
Instructing Concepts Converging Earthquake!
Plate Tectonics
Plate tectonics refers to the motion of the outer part of the earth called the lithosphere. The
lithosphere is comprised of the earth’s crust and upper part of the mantel. It is currently thought
that there are 8 major plates and many minor plates that are moving across the surface of the
earth. The plates have three different types of boundaries were they interact: 1) convergent, 2)
divergent, and 3) transform.
Convergent boundaries are where plates are colliding with each other. Plates can collide in
several different ways. If an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate, the denser plate
(typically oceanic) will be sub ducted (go below) the other plate. This will cause mountains to
be formed although they don’t tend to be that large. If a continental plate collides with another
continental plate large mountains like the Himalayas are formed. Again one plate (the denser)
will be sub ducted below the other. The final way plates can interact is if an oceanic collides
with another oceanic plate. In this instance, there can be islands formed or deep-sea trenches
from volcanic action created by the collision.
Divergent boundaries are where plates are moving away from each other. If the boundary is
between oceanic plates mid ocean ridges occur from volcanic action created by a weakening of
the mantel where the plates are moving apart. If the boundary is between continental plates it
can produce an ocean basin.
Transform boundaries are special types of faults. Faults are where plates tend to move
horizontally to one another. There can be some vertical and horizontal movement between the
plates. A transform boundary is where plates slide past one another and crust is not created or
destroyed which is unlike the other two types of boundaries. Transform boundaries (faults) can
be found in the oceans but the best known are on land. These types of boundaries are where
some earthquakes occur.
An earthquake is cause by two plates (either major or minor) moving horizontally or vertically to
each other along a fault. There are three types of faults: 1) dip slip faults where the major
movement is vertical, 2) strike slip faults where the major movement is horizontal, and 3)
oblique faults where the major movements are both horizontal and vertical. As the plates move
along a fault, they gradually build up stress on one another. When the stress becomes too great
the plates can slip rapidly against each other causing lots of energy to be released (the most
damaging) or the release can be slow and continuous. Either way, energy is released and the
shape of the landscape is changed. The Richter scale can measure the energy of earthquakes.
The Richter scale is a logarithmic scale that assigns a number of magnitude for an earthquake.
Since the scale is a base 10 logarithm the difference between a 4.1 and 5.1 magnitude earthquake
is a factor of 10. This means that an 8 magnitude quake is 10000 times more powerful than a 3
magnitude quake.
© 2009 Board of Regents University of Nebraska
Organizing Learning Converging Earthquake!
Summary: Identify parts and forces of convergent boundaries and strike thrust faults.
Outline:
 Label maps of fault lines and tectonic plates
 Label pictures (found or hand drawn) of the vocabulary
Activity: To learn about where the types of plate are, the students will need to label a world map.
Diagrams will need to be made in their science notebooks as to the sheer forces and their
direction of force. Some vocabulary to be defined include: force, epicenter, sheer direction,
relative movement, and foci.
Images and maps can be found online at http://images.google.com/
Map image from Public Domain Clip Art (http://www.pdclipart.org)
© 2009 Board of Regents University of Nebraska
Understanding Learning Converging Earthquake!
Summary: Identify parts and forces of convergent boundaries and strike thrust faults.
Outline:
1) Formative assessment of finding items at home they could use to show family these type
of faults and how they react.
2) Summative assessment is a quiz having students label the plates, faults, and vocabulary.
Activity:
Formative Assessment
As students are engaged in the lesson ask these or similar questions:
1) What materials were used and why?
2) What qualities did the materials need and why?
3) What could you use to represent each of the vocabulary words?
Summative Assessment
Label the appropriate pieces (plates, faults, and vocabulary) in the given diagrams. Images
can be taken from a science textbook or found online.
Draw a diagram of the fault line and label all pieces.
© 2009 Board of Regents University of Nebraska